It’s a new year, and time for us to take a look at the annual list of banned words, courtesy Lake Superior State University. We did this last year, too, remember?
Every year, LSSU takes votes from contributors on the words and phrases that should be banished and compiles them to a year-end list. The list is clever, but it’s the pithy comments from contributors that make it worth reading. The banished words for 2007 include:
- NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS — Heard in movie advertisements. Where can we see that, again?
- ARMED ROBBERY/DRUG DEAL GONE BAD — From the news reports. What degree of “bad” don’t we understand?
- COMBINED CELEBRITY NAMES — Celebrity duos of yore — BogCall (Bogart and Bacall), Lardy (Laurel and Hardy), and CheeChong (Cheech and Chong) — just got lucky.
- BOASTS — See classified advertisements for houses, says Morris Conklin of Lisboa, Portugal, as in “master bedroom boasts his-and-her fireplaces — never ‘bathroom apologizes for cracked linoleum,’ or ‘kitchen laments pathetic placement of electrical outlets.’”
Last year, you suggested we ban ‘my bad’, among other terms. And lookit that, I just realized the always-prescient Marla predicted one of this year’s banned words!
So whaddaya think? Do you agree with the list this year? What words or phrases would you banish from the vernacular?
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